Murdoch au naturel - missing scenes
by Nordique1
Summary: A few missing scenes from the Murdoch au naturel episode. If you have not seen the episode, do not read this


_**I know this has been done twice already, but it is such an irresistible story….**_

Julia looked over at her side. George was looking from her, to William, to the Inspector. The inspector was giving her a good look over. William, well William was simply frozen in place refusing to look at her. What was worse, Julia could hear the noise of the other constables who were obviously part of the raid. They were getting closer. She looked around in panic for something to cover herself. Brakenried was the first to act. He quickly took his suit jacket off and put it on Julia. He turned to George.

"Crabtree. Take the doctor away and get some bloody clothes on. You both must have had some on when you arrived."

William watched as George took Julia's elbow and led her away. The slight movement of his head was the first time he had moved in over a minute. Brakenried took control of the situation.

"Murdoch. Give your suit jacket to the woman. She might be a murderess, but while under my responsibility, I'll not have the constables leering at her."

William did not move. He was still frozen in place. Brackenried had to insist:

"Wake up Murdoch. Give her your jacket. The constables will be on us soon."

This finally woke William up. He gave the naked woman his suit jacket and promptly arrested her.

In the meantime, George and Julia had made their way back to the clothes' tent and were rapidly getting dressed. Once she was fully clothed, Julia turned around to see George struggling with the bandage on his arm. She went over:

"Here George. Let me." She took off the bandage to look at the wound. It was full of dirt; soil had ingrained itself in the wound. She got up to get her medical bag.

"I'll have to clean this George. It's quite dirty. I do not want it to get infected."

George looked at her as she started to work on his arm. Maybe a normal conversation would help?

"You always travel with that bag Doctor?" he tried.

Julia looked at him with a gentle smile. "Don't you think George that after today, you can call me Julia?" George blushed a bit.

"Hmm.. of course, yes Doct… I mean Julia." He hesitated a second as he tried it out for the first time. "But I am not sure I want to do that in from of the Inspector. Or Detective Murdoch for that matter." He had looked at her straight in the eyes at his last statement. It was Julia's turn to blush.

"Yes George. You are quite right. Not in front Inspector Brakenreid or William."

Julia finished working on his arm and helped him with his shirt. She heard voices through the tent as she put away her medical bag. William and Brakenried walked in. William spoke.

"We have a police cab here Doctor. You will ride back to town with George, Inspector Brakenried and I."

Julia absolutely did not want to ride back with William. Not the way he kept looking at her. She immediately stated to refuse the offer. She did not get far before Inspector Brakenried interrupted her.

"Doctor. The other constables are not idiots. If they see you here, they will quickly come to the right conclusion. I have already talked to the driver. He knows to stay silent. We will drop you at your house and none will be the wiser."

"Oh yes of course Inspector. You are quite correct." Answered Julia.

She quickly got inside the cab.

It turned out to be the longest cab ride of her life. Nobody spoke. William spent the ride staring blindly in from on him. She would constantly catch the Inspector looking at her. By the embarrassed look on his face, it did not take a detective to figure out what he was thinking about. Only George seemed to understand. He occasionally would offer her a small smile. The cab finally arrived at her house. William bided her a curt goodnight as he held the door open for her. The three policemen continued on to Station Four.

Inspector Brakenried had been sitting at his desk watching William through his office glass. The detective had finished typing up his arrest report a while back, and was just sitting at his desk staring at the wall. Brakenried decided to act. He called out:

"Higgins. Get Murdoch in here, will you?"

Thomas waited as William made his way to his office. He gestured William over.

"Close the door Murdoch and sit down."

As William sat down, Brakenried got up and poured two drinks. He took one over to William, and as usual the detective started to protest. Thomas cut him short.

"For once Murdoch, do as I bloody tell you. Have a drink." Thomas continued half under his breath.: "I know I would, if I were in your place."

William looked at Brakenried, took the offered glass and drank the whole thing in one shot. He gave it back to the Inspector.

"You best pour me a second one Sir."

Thomas lifted an eyebrow, but proceeded to fill up the glass again.

"Here, me old mucker, have a second one, but pace yourself. You're not used to this."

William wisely obeyed and leaned back in the chair. Twice he tried to say something, but could not come up with it. Thomas finally took pity on him.

"Look Murdoch. I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you. I won't say anything. Crabtree won't either. This'll stay between us. Nobody will know about this."

William looked up: "Thank you Sir."

Thomas continued: "It's not my business lad, but you cannot be surprised at this. She has never been wall flower. The way she was talking about the Naturalist movement yesterday…."

William took a long breath and looked at his boss.: "I know Sir, but…" he could not finish. Thomas looked at the younger man. He had never ventured any advice regarding his relationship with the good Doctor. Maybe now was the time.

"Listen Murdoch. Obviously the two of you are together again, that kiss on New Year's eve, her quick departure for Vienna. It's no secret her and Garland are estranged, and since her return she's been constantly visiting you." Brakenried paused, allowing his words to sink in.

"I've seen how you've been. Don't let this come between the two of you. Trust me. You will laugh about this one day. Just remember how you were when she left for Buffalo, when she married Garland? Do you want to go back to that?

William took a very long time to answer. He looked at the glass in his hand and again drank the whole thing in one swallow. He got up and started to leave the room. He stopped long enough to turn and answer:

"No sir, I do not want to go back to that." With that, he left the station.

Julia was curled up on the hotel room sofa chair looking outside at the city. She was only wearing William's shirt and was drinking a glass of wine. It had been quite late by the time they had made their way to the hotel room. She had been hungry and had had some food sent up. They had eaten it in a companionable silence. Since she had brought no clothes, William had lent her a shirt. By the time she had come out of the bathroom, William was sleeping on the bed. Sleeping or feigning sleep, she wasn't sure which, and to be honest, tonight she was not really ready to find out. She had taken his lead and had also gone to bed. Hours later, unable to sleep, she had gotten up. She heard a noise and looked up. William had was slowly making his way to her. He sat down on the chair facing her.

"Julia. You are quite alluring right now with just my shirt on." He stopped, and smiled. "As alluring as you were this afternoon in fact."

Julia looked up to him, relieved and confused all at the same time. "Then why?" she asked.

"Not for lack of desire trust me. In the years I have known you, I'm sure I have ravished you in my mind a thousand times."

Julia was still confused: "William?"

He took a deep breath before he started to explain:

"Julia. I could not simply stay in the background and let you deal with this divorce on your own. Who would it have fooled anyway? While you and I have not been flaunting our relationship, we have not been exactly discreet either. Naming a co-respondent other than me would simply have shown the world that I am a coward."

He had to stop again.

"The other day when I told you that I refused to believe that God would be against our love, I meant it. I still mean it. But Julia you are still married, and despite everything, for me, there is still a right and a wrong. While I will weather the storm of scandal with you, I cannot be untrue to myself. Deep down, I still believe that making love to another man's wife is wrong. I now that we will not be able to get married in the church. But nevertheless, on our wedding day, I want to be able to look up to God without any guilt. Do you understand?"

Julia had a small smile and slowly put her hand on his cheek.

"Oh William… Of course I understand. That is one of the things that I love about you. I know of nobody that has your integrity. If this is what you want, then I'll be so." She hesitated before continuing:

"I thought you were upset over the whole naturalist thing?"

William smiled back as he answered:

"Well, to be honest I've had the time to calm down and the Inspector did give me a good talk."

"The inspector? Murmured Julia.

"Yes." Answered William. "His frank language can be helpful at times." He smiled. "After all, this is not the first time you are caught in such a situation, isn't it?" He asked with a gentle smile.

She smiled back. He offered her his hand and they made their way to bed.

It was morning. Thomas Brakenried was having his breakfast tea and reading his newspaper. He could not stand it anymore. He put the paper down. Surely he was allowed to tell his wife.

"Margaret. Stop your fussing woman…. The boys can get ready for school on their own this morning. Get in here. You'll never believe what happened yesterday…. "


End file.
